La Face Cachée de la Pomme Neige Éternelle

Name: Neige Eternelle
Date: 05/05/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Yankee Go Home!

crystal clear gold, headless, nice strong legs, sweet dry and tart apple aroma, big sticky sweet body, rich apple flavor, sweet applesauce character, well balanced tartness,

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 10/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 10/10; Overall: 18/20
Rating: 4.4/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ****/4

The heralded Neige ice cider living a prolonged sojourn in wood barrels: Could it have been a gimmick? Not really, the wood is throughout underwhelming, leaving the vibrant, intense apple moist flavours dominating the landscape here. Very full bodied, syrupy looks of a dark golden apparel. Apple sauce, pie-like and concentrated fruity flavours (pear, mango, peach…) all join the late showing soft oak that brings a precious toastiness into play. Maple strong finish typifies the Face Cachée’s typical richness. An absolutely delicious elixir from this consecrated cider house.

2004 vintage: Pours a still, transparent, dark golden bronze with nice viscous legs. Aroma of fresh, tart, sweet apples with a hint of oak, but not as much as I expected. Starts with a viscous sticky sweet fruity apple flavor with hints of caramel and balanced with a nice tartness. I don’t taste much oak at all, but it’s still a nice ice cider with lots of complexity.

Tiny but potent sample from the bottle (375 ml, 2003 vintage) at the Mondial de la Bière in Montreal, 2006. The viscous liquid is deep, bright gold, oily and almost translucent, with thick lasting legs that flow slowly down like tree sap....the nose is extremely powerful, erupting from the tiny sample in the midst of the Mondial chaos and making its presence known to the whole table, juicy-tart apple skins at first shading into a sweeter, cooked applesauce with cinnamon and a hint of raisin and vanilla....on the tongue though is where the true Rapture begins, the body is so decadently rich and creamy that I’m simply at a loss to find adjectives or comparisons: this may be the finest mouthfeel from any liquid I’ve yet imbibed, cider-beer-otherwise.....the flavor is redolent of sweet apples, fresh and caramelized, vanilla, cinnamon and soft oak, with fine touches of licorice and sherry.....overall this is a darker, sweeter, heavier rendition than the other ice ciders from this producer and for me it all melds together into an unusurpassable richness; I know I’m in the minority preferring this to Frimas, but there it is. Right now the best cider in the world, one that I wouldn’t mind choking on at my deathbed (apologies Josh).

A glinting monarch copper orange doesn’t proffer too much oak in the aroma...We are nonetheless offered a balanced perfume of sweet apple, light lactic tartness and wooden dryness...Palate is hugely thick and luxurious, as decadent as can be, apple pie liquefied and still steaming, topped by apple honey...The wood adds some complexity to the apple flavor, but don’t expect to be overwhelmed by its characteristics...It finishes just quietly and tart enough to make you want to live this experience for a whole evening...Alcohol’s not a player in the flavor profile...This is just pure, unadulterated, apple glory...Licking your teeth has never been that much fun...